The Hunter's Fire
by Wolfi-Chan
Summary: Dan has turned sixteen, but that's when his life turns upside down. With a new goal and a new partner, Dan must be ready to hunt down the Beasts with power that has never been seen combined. Little does Dan know is that danger and darkness are in his way.
1. Prologue

Dan felt as if he was floating for a second. His red eyes tried to examined where he was exactly. They wouldn't open for some strange reason.

_"Daniel..."_ a female's voice spoke as if she were a faint breeze.

_**"Who are you?"**_ Dan had tried to ask, but no words came to him.

_"Give up..." _the voice came again.

_**"Why should I! You're my enemy aren't you!" **_Dan tried to speak again, but it seemed to be not needed, the voice was reading his every thought it seemed.

_"Give up...sense... Let... heart lead..." _the voice spoke again, this time Dan got it. It was like she was speaking over a radio with low frequency, what he was hearing was only fragments. "_**The heart**__?"_ Dan thought.

How to let your heart lead, Dan had no clue about how to do that. He still had to try to figure it out or he may be trapped forever in oblivion. He tried something he had never done, be quieter than a mouse. The brown haired boy could hear his own heartbeat soon enough. For a second, he stopped breathing.

Dan's eyes shot open suddenly, seeing the white stars, the pale moon, the white trees that seemed to reach for the sky. Wait, white trees! Dan threw himself into sitting position and looked around. "W-Where am I!" he asked himself.

He was sitting right in the middle of a clearing. The dusty white grass was beneath him, but his hands were pale but had a little bit of co lour. The trees and shadows were shades all the way from white to black as the night.

At fist he thought he became co lour blind, that is until is bangs in his face were their same ordinary colour. After a second look, the brown haired boy discovered a faint silvery blue mist that stalked around the closest trees' trunk in front of him.

_"You've come, young one... You've finally come..." _the voice spoke, coming from a golden soft glow that appeared out of nowhere. The faint image of a woman in almost full armour with a bow and quiver was tucked inside the blankets of the gold glow.

Dan got onto his feet immediately then backed away a few steps, "Who are you! What do you want with me!"

The woman smiled then spoke calmly, _"There is no need to be afraid, young one. This is the sanctuary of all hunters, in the forest of Silver."_

Dan looked at her, bow and arrows, forest of silver, a woman in armour? The brown haired boy scrolled through the mountains of names from mythologies he never thought he'd have to think about after the final test.

Finally something clicked into his mind, "You're Artemis! Goddess of the hunt, right!"

The golden woman smiled but shook her head, "No, I am not Artemis, but that was a very good answer. You wouldn't be able to travel here if I were that fake goddess. There is no such things as gods, young one; spirits yes, but not gods. Maybe one god from another religion is true but not those Greek ones."

Dan,s heart sank a tiny bit, he thought for one that was a question he could've actually gotten right; it was a good thing he was used to barely getting past tests at school unlike Marucho. After thinking about it more Dan finally gave up,

"Okay, I don't have a clue who you are! Just tell me already!" The woman still had her warm smile on her face then replied,

"Tell me your full name and age then, young one." Daniel was beginning to be sick of this. **"**_**I guess answering her question, I'll get an answer myself." **_

"I'm Daniel Kuso. I'm sixteen," the red eyed boy spoke.

"_Daniel of sixteen years of age, that does explain why you've arrived here... I do recall hearing that name as well... Oh yes, I am Yeira, the spirit who guards the Forest of Silver, but it is a part of me as well; if it dies I die, and if I die, it dies as well,_" the spirit spoke.

"So why am I here!" Dan asked for about the third time. Yeira's once warm glow and smile changed, she became a silvery outline and her face was solemn.

"_Daniel, it is the Hunt that has sent you here. Over the centuries, hunters off all kinds have tried to hunt down various beasts with extremely powerful abilities of the spirits, they say that power could match the legends of Godhood. Luckily evil has not caught it yet. You are one of my hunters, Daniel Kuso. You are destined to find these beasts and take them out of darkness's reach like the hunters before you,_" Yeira explained.

_**Hunt, me! Is this some kind of odd dream!**_ "Okay Yeira, there's gotta be _some _mistake, you've got the wrong guy. I can barely throw a knife straight, let alone hunting beasts. Maybe one of my other friends," Dan replied, hoping she'd agree with him.

"_No, Daniel, it is no mistake that you've come. You must take on this task or all of this and the universe is doomed for despair and agony forever,"_ Yeira replied.

Dan, being the guy who saved the world a bunch of times, couldn't exactly say "no" to that, why would he just let the world die off when he has a chance to save the world...again plus all his hard work, that he never used for tests, would be for nothing. "Alright, fine. I'll agree to it!" he sighed.

Yeira smiled for a last time before disappearing as the wind streaked her image until it was like silvery dust,

_"Good, now find yourself a partner. They are waiting for you."_

"Hey, Yeira, I've already got a partner! He's a Dragonoid!" Dan called out.

_"That won't do it. You must get a new partner, just for this quest, then you can come back to being his partner... Please, it will do you more good..._" Yeira's voice echoed, as if she was getting farther away from him.

Dan sighed then looked around then told himself, "Better get on looking." He stalked into the forest, it was beautiful, the way it shimmered and glowed as the light hit it. Dan couldn't help but look around, it was so mesmerizing.

When the young teen got out of the spell, he had no clue where he was. _**"Great, now I'm totally lost...again..."**_ Dan thought, thinking back to the time he lost his friends in an airport, "_**Might as well continue looking around for an exit or something." **_

After what felt like hours, Dan was at a small creek, it shimmered like the forest and reflected stars, almost so real that Dan had an urge to try and scoop one out of the water, instead Dan kept moving.

The wind suddenly picked up, rocks stood straight near the trees. Something was making Dan's heart pound faster and faster. He was beginning to loose sight, literally. Dan calmed himself and focused on his heartbeat. It slowed and his vision returned again, but the heartbeat sped up again.

Ignoring how fast it was going, Dan pressed on. As the rocks got bigger and bigger, he saw a line of large trees followed by a fiery glow of colours; amber orange, scarlet red, golden yellow, and blazing white were the main colours, but there were tints of forest green, plum indigo, and heather violet.

Dan, without thinking at all, rushed in and stopped short. Flames were scattered around the forest floor, the mixture of the same glow came onto each flame. Dan's mind wanted to run before he caught on fire, but his heart commanded him to stay. Somehow, he didn't feel the burning heat of the the flames and the fire didn't catch onto his clothes, or burn them.

One a hill surrounded by lit plants, that were still looked like the flames didn't touch them, despite being already lit on fire, and heated rocks, changing colours minute after minute, were spread around the hill.

At the top was a clump of lit grass, where a beast lay asleep, about the size of a bakugan. It's head was like a wolf's, but then its scruff looked spiked and was set ablaze, along with its paws and the tip of its tail. The fur looked like a wolf's at first but as the teen examined it, it looked more sharp then anything else, especially the ridged tail. Markings were across its face and front limbs, of all sots of colours. The paws looked more like a dragon's, sharp and deadly claws, with silvery scales. To top it off was the powerful-looking soot black dragon wings and the blazing red spiking fur.

Dan, excited about the large beast, approached it and ignored the flames that danced across the ground as if delighted to see a human.

As soon as Dan stepped right in front of the hill, the beast's eye, snapped open, at first small. It's eyes were an icy blue with slits for pupils. Dan jumped back, even after years of odd things happening to him that still caught him by surprise. It slowly raised its head, but didn't move the rest of its body.

"A glowing humanoid?... And a male one as well..." the beast spoke, its voice was undoubtedly masculine and fairly deep, like an adult's. The boy looked at himself, was he? The beast was but not himself, at least not one he saw. "I'm guessing you are new to this place since I've never caught your scent in my slumber... What do you want, human?" the wolf's voice rumbled.

Dan's voice was louder than he expected, "I'm Daniel Kuso and Yeira told me I was supposed to be a hunter and try to get all the beasts and stop evil from getting their powers! She told me I needed a partner to do this!"

The wolf ears pricked up, and the bored expression fled from the beast's face, "Yeira spoke to you?... That does make sense... Do you expect me to be your partner? Are you ready to work your hardest at training and fighting? Do you truly have a strong and blazing heart for justice and good? I will not be partnered with a weakling, human..."

Dan easily replied, "Yes!"

"Even if your bones feel like they are about to break or your life is dying out?" The beast pressed on with his questioning.

Dan thought about the next one before replying this time, "Yes!"

"Even if you must fight one of your friends to the death!" the hybrid beast questioned.

More silence. After a few minutes, the hybrid laid its head down and was about to close his eyes but then stopped when Dan spoke, "I will."

"Very well," the beast's voice rumbled as if stood on its scaly paws. The flames on the clearing darted towards the beast and were absorbed, "Then I approve you as my partner, Daniel Kuso. I am Canicos, the dragon-wolf of the blazing Vulcan flame." The wolf moved slowly around Dan, probably because he had be asleep for who knows how long, quickly reached the forest. Dan watched the dragon-wolf's movements then followed. Just as he left the underbrush, Dan discovered the forest floor had disappeared, throwing him into stared darkness below the Forest of Silver. Dan had found his exit.

Wolfi's note: Okay, best prologue I've ever wrote. Now for the names and character: Yeira is Hebrew for "light" and the dragon-wolf's name was hard to choose but I went with Canicos, a latinized name meaning "born of fire", which made perfect sense. And just to say, all beasts are the size of bakugan and are hybrids of something living.

And about Dan, that guy may be the main character for the actual series but I thought, hey, let's try it in an area Dan isn't exactly strong in, when I thought about the plot. (Which was at like two in the morning! XD He also 'wears his heart on his sleeve' and has some issues that make him fun to write as a main character.

Well...the Hunt is about to begin! See ya next time!


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was hard to breathe for Dan in the darkness. "Canicos! Canicos!" Dan shouted. A voice answered, "_Dan!... Dan!"_

"Dan!.. Daniel! You may want to open your eyes," Drago's voice called out. When the dragoniod's partner opened his eyes, the sun shone right into his eyes. The dream was over but something was on his stomach, which was most likely making breathing difficult. When his eyes adjusted to the daylight he sat up and looked into big arctic ocean blue eyes.

Dan froze, this was stranger than when he first obtained Drago. It was a puppy with those big eyes, its fur was not blazing red or spiked like Canicos', but a mix of red and tan with a fluffy then further down the back more smooth, the paws were a dull grey; and not a single marking on him.

Dan turned to Drago, "Did my Mom buy this little guy and sneak him in here?"

"No, I would've heard the door open; its almost like he appeared here out of nowhere," Drago replied.

"_What are you talking about! I am Canicos, Wolf-dragon of the Vulcan Flame!" _snapped the dog, but didn't show any movements of the mouth except a growl. That freaked Dan right out, he jumped out of bed as fast as he could, sending the pup flying off the bed as well.

Instead of smacking into the wall, the pup actually flipped in the air, ricocheted off the wall and, the most freakiest part, it sprouted wings and glided easily down to the bed. As soon as it sat down and relaxed its wings, black wings, vanished. Dan's eyes were round as saucers, his mind thinking a mile a minute; _**"First the crazy dream, then all the sudden puppies with wings are appearing out of the blue in my room! What the heck is going to happen next, monsters attacking the city! Something like King Kong or Godzilla!"**_

"_How good is your memory, Daniel?" _the pup spoke again.

"Uh... Ummm... Not sure..." Dan stammered, his brain as scrambled when he's dazed off about his next match in interspace and his teacher asks him a tough math question.

_"Well that better change, as my new partner, you must be ready for anything," _Canicos added. Dan recalled back to when he met Canicos in the Forest of Silver, he didn't exactly get how it happened but obviously that information was old news for the dog. It was hard for Dan to get this around his mind, in fact, he bet even Marucho would have some trouble understanding this. Dan sore his brain was about to explode.

"GAH! This is crazy! It doesn't make **any** sense!" Dan shouted out loud, with his hands pressed against the sides of his head.

"You could say that again, you're talking to an Earth dog," Drago spoke.

Dan whirled around to Drago's direction, "I know!" Dan looked back to Canicos and asked, "Could you please explain this! Yah know, the forest and how you got here."

_"First, you train and we can talk about what happened, understood?" _Canicos replied.

Dan sighed, "Fine!" Dan quickly got dressed then grabbed Canicos, storing him in his jacket and zipping it up. Canicos protested against this and wriggled around a little but Dan didn't listen. Dan rushed out of the door, almost forgetting Drago, who ended up in his pocket.

Dan rushed downstairs, trying to make sure the dog wouldn't wriggle out of his jacket and getting out of the house before his mom caught him. Unfortunately, Dan had no such luck. His mother noticed him easily as she did her aerobics, "Daniel, you're up so early this morning, and on a Sunday." She got up and approached him. Dan was panicking now, pressing Canicos to his chest. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yah, Mom. W...Well I've got to run!" Dan replied, trying not to sound guilty or panicked. He tried to bolt, but his mother replied, "Wait!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him back into her reach. Dan looked away for a few minutes, waiting for her to discover the overly stuffed jacket. Her hand headed for the zipper, Dan watched, trying to think up an excuse.

Instead of going for the zipper, she slipped her hand under the collar of the jacket and pulled out a part of a silver chain. She pulled the rest out from under the fabric, a pendant was the only thing on it. It had a flaming ring, two flames touching was cleverly where the chain went through, with a wolf posed in the middle, it was attached to the ring in various ways, a red gem where the heart would be on the beast. Dan could just see a faint dragon wing that blended into the flames unlike the fur.

"I thought you would never where any kind of jewelry, Dan, this is so detailed. Where'd you buy it!"

"The Jewelry store, they said it would look best on me," Dan lied, secretly clueless about how it happened, took the pendant out of his mother's hand and let it dangle on it's chain, "Well, I've got to run."

When he got outside, as he walked he looked at the pendant. He held it up to get all the details in the light, everything was the same except the flames actually camouflaged a wing. It glowed under the sunlight. Suddenly the glow grew bigger and the wolf on the pendant grew as big as Canicos in his puppy form. Dan caught the fur-ball and stared at it in amazement, it was Puppy Canicos.

The pup's head appeared out of the fur and looked at him, "_You didn't have to squish me. Lucky I could transform into my Artifact form."_ The pup leaped out of Dan's arms then examined the sidewalk, then back at Dan, "_Let's start with a good 4 Vulpecula run."_

"What the heck is that!" asked Dan.

"_A Vulpecula is about to the end of this trail,"_ Canicos answered. Dan, unfortunately for him, had to piece that together, "That's got to be a Kilometre. Wait, 4 of them!" Canicos had already dashed off after hearing the word 'kilometre'. Dan sighed but followed him. He did want answers, and going through Canicos' training routine was the only way.

"Okay...first... how can.. you turn... into... a piece...of jewel...ry!" Dan panted. They had already down about half a kilometre, maybe one, and it was more tiring because of the ups and down the street offered.

"_My kind cannot be in their true form all the time because when we're in a foreign place like Earth, where we didn't originate on, it takes up too much energy. We can only change to an Artifact or earth creature, usually in the smallest form. The creature form is a disguise and we can travel freely, but the Artifact form is for getting out of tight spots or because our partner's home isn't allowed pets in their dwellings," _explained Canicos.

"How can... you...turn into... a non...living thing!" asked Dan.

"_Our bodies turn into the object, but our heart and soul that lets us live lies in the gem,"_ the dog answered simply. He looked at the panting boy, who was sweating like crazy, "_We'll stop at a half I guess... But I advise to take off that other layer, we've got about 3 Vulpeculas and a __Sagitta__to go__."_

Dan looked at his partner, his expression full of surprise, but took the rest happily. He flopped onto a nearby bench, the red dog hopped onto the same one.

"_Daniel, what happened last night was that I saw you're spirit back in the Forest of Silver. You were glowing because of that, like Yeira was and most likely myself. We cannot see our own glow, but it symbolizes that we're alive. My kind is able to live in the Forest of Silver with both our body and spirit, because it is our world. How I got into your dwelling was because we had formed a bond called 'The Spirit Link', which allowed me to exit the forest and appear on your bed in my earth form. The Spirit Link also caused you to also exit the forest and return to your body safe and sound. It's mainly a connection of soul and spirit, it will help us in the long run. Understand?" _explained Canicos.

Dan smiled but was still trying to catch his breath, "You talk...more than Drago sometimes does..."

Canicos replied, "_You've got your answers, didn't you?_" Dan nodded, accepting that Canicos fulfilled his part of the bargain earlier than he had to.

After a good break, Dan asked, "So what are we doing next?"

"_I'll have to figure that out... human and Animageoses have different body structure... I'll have to observe your kind" _Canicos replied, his voice in Dan's head seemed to be tense.

"Well, I know a place I want to stop by," Dan told it then raced off before Canicos thought of something.

_"Daniel!"_ the pup called and raced after the teen.

Bakugan Interspace. Dan smiled then looked at Canicos, who was at his heels. "_What is this __place?"_ asked the 'Animageous' being, obviously his species' name.

"Just the coolest and most popular place in the world," Dan told his partner.

The pup's head hung there for a second then looked up, "_Very well..." _He transformed into his artifact form, as if lay on the side walk. Dan grinned, he could do what he wanted now, and picked of the necklace and hid it from view but wore it around his neck. He had a match today, with his team cheering him on. "The training can wait," Dan thought, ready for something he was used to and also to clear his head.

After 'signing in', he stepped inside a clear tube, which shut around him. The operating system transported him in a good couple seconds. The Interspace world appeared, a place where Dan could feel free to do what he wanted. Dan began to search around for his teammates, Shun and Marucho.

"Hey, Dan!" cried a short blond boy in a blue outfit, it was Marucho.

"Hey, Marucho. What's up?" asked Dan. Marucho looked pretty surprised,

"You're about to be late for a battle," Marucho told him. Dan rushed off, checking which stadium hosted his battle.

Battle arena J with a player ranked 15, not too bad for an opponent. As Dan ran down the halls, he took Drago from the pocket and asked, "You ready?" Drago popped out,

"Always."

The stage opened up before them, cheers all around and the battle terrain still to be decided. A kid was on the other side of the arena. The announcer's voice boomed throughout the stadium, "We're in for a treat, Battle Fans. Ranked number 1, Dan Kuso and his partner Drago today are up against Drew, ranked 15."

The floor glowed, signalling the battle was about to begin.

"This battle will take place in the rumble of the jungle," the announcer spoke. The stage was set, it looked like a real live jungle, a virtual one though. The kid, Drew, through out the first gatre card and was easily trumped by Drago using only two of his new abilities.

_** This is easy! **_He thought. Dan smiled then shouted, "Gate Card Set!" He threw his gate card. It landed and suddenly just disappeared. This had never happened, the battle didn't even start let alone end, that's when the gate card's appearance chanced to unusable for that battle.

"What the heck!" Drew asked, definitely shocked. A faint black glow appeared, vines spouted up. These dead-looking plants sprung up around the whole stadium. The other kid ran, and Dan was about to run after him except one of the vines the size of a tree crossed his path. He tried to run the other way, freaked right out. Suddenly a smaller vine caught hold of his arm, everything was turning black and purple around him. Darkness with tints of purple.

The red eyed boy suddenly felt woozy, feeling numb and weak. Three more vines grabbed his free limbs then straightened, unabling Dan to bend his limbs. They didn't stop, they continued to coil around him; destroying any chance of escape.

Pain burst into his body, like the branches had grown thorns. It seemed like his was being burned from the inside out, plus another sensation that felt like something was trying to rip out his heart slowly.

_**"Come...Daniel... Give up... your heart... we shall give...everything you desire,"**_ a voice, that sounded nothing like Yeira, appeared.

Dan weakly shook his head, knowing that voice wasn't on his side. Suddenly pain increased, especially in his heart, but after a few moments the pain in his heart faded when Canicos's necklace began shining red. The vines bubbled in unison with the ground, any of the vines curling around the teen's chest were burned right off. A dull screech of pain was sounded and roots were unearthing themselves wildly.

Dan's vision was severely blurred now, just seeing a red light and the necklace's light weight disappeared so suddenly. The vines were burned to a crisp easily, somehow not hurting Dan, and in seconds he was free of his bonds. The brown haired boy slumped onto the ground, everything but his earlobes stinging, but not as bad.

Canicos was in his true form in front of Dan, searching for anything. He growled and straightened his wings before folding them against his back, they could've matched the size of Drago's. Canicos was back to his original form.

"_How dare you approach me with such a foolish trap, Beast of the Earth Element, when I was born from the hottest flame ever known! I don't take insults lightly! Come out so I may send you to your grave!" _an enraged Canicos snapped. Nothing happened.

Canicos growled then lifted up one of his paws, which the flames grew up to his scruff, before striking the ground. The heat escalated under the earth as if it burn right through the battle field.

A goat with vines for horns burst out of the ground. It had two pairs of horns, one on its head and one on its haunches, along with smaller thorns, leaves ,and spikes for fur and its hoofs were replaced with talons.

Canicos bolted at it in mere seconds. The darkened beast's 'horns' grew longer and attempted to curl around Canicos. Canicos's blazing fur burned them to white ashes. The goat screeched then the leaves on its back attacked next. It did horribly slim to no damage at all. Canicos lunged and bit harshly into the lower neck. A screech of pain sounded again. The thorns on its back extended and stabbed into wolf-dragon.

Canicos locked his jaws onto the beast, which was thrashing to get away. The vines from the goat were crumbling in seconds. The earth rumbled, an earthquake. Dan was able to grab onto his neck and huddle into a ball. The ground shifted and engulfed both beasts, as if the earth had swallowed them whole. Dan felt like a pinball, uncurling in mid air and landing harshly on his back; lucky not to be skewered by the sharp pointed rocks blasting out of the ground.

The earth around them exploded after a few minutes of silence, dashing out from under the earth. They bolted at each other at once, the goat ripped the dragon-wolf's back with its claws while Canicos seemly let it, then extended his once folded wings. The goat went flying upwards into the darkened sky.

Canicos, as bright as the sun, made the earth erupt and ignited rocks and debris from the ground went straight up, bashing the beast higher up, Canicos close behind.

As if it was a last resort, a tornado of leaves and vines wrapped into energy slammed into Dan's new partner. Canicos was pushed back only a little bit. He gained altitude fast and jabbed his dragon claws into the goats chest. Before the goat could react or even begin to fall, Canicos was flying like a shooting star, from Dan's view, bashing and clawing the beast while keeping it in the air. _**"If that's a normal beast I wonder who much powerful the beasts I'm supposed to hunt are..."**_ Dan couldn't help but think.

Dan had seemed to have jinxed Canicos, who missed his squirming target. The goat landed clumsily on the altered battlefield but was able to not collapse, it was looking right at Dan in rage and desperation.

Dan's fear of getting attacked was short lived thought, his partner came down blazing and crushed the goat into the half obliterated ground. The other beast screeched and tried to get away for a third time(?), Canicos must've have been burning the thing terribly. Dan could barely hear the words from Canicos, "_This is what you get for trying to kill my partner in an unfair fight!"_ Flames burst around them like a volcano erupting, even burning the sky, then widened until it was almost right on top of Dan. Dan closed his eyes and expected the worst, no pain came, just him blacking out.

Everyone in the bleachers, had taken cover the first moment a pillar of light smashed into the sky, somehow burning the data field, turning it to black with white ashes. Chunks of rock were floating in the gravity damaged sky, like space. Marucho looked over the damage, "Incredible! It actually tore the data field of gravity and not only the battle field but also the stadium, even with all the upgrades!"

Shun nodded, "Whatever caused it might actually have so much power that it could damage Bakugan Interspace."

Marucho had to agree, "That means Dan is..." Marucho swallowed, trying to hold down any tears. Drew had gotten out before a black sphere covered the battle field below but their teammate had been caught inside. Marucho and Shun both knew his friend was most likely lying there on the ground of the battle field, still as stone.

Shun was shocked when he looked in. "_No way!_" he thought.

Dan opened his eyes, Shun, Marucho, and their bakugan partners were looking right at him. The ruby eyed teen was in his bed with only rope burns, other than that there was nothing else wrong with him. Dan could just see his necklace still around his neck, untouched by anyone. "You're finally awake!" Marucho cried relieved, "We though you might've gotten in bad shape or worse." Shun nodded.

"What exactly happened?" Dan asked. The other boys backed off a little, surprise filled their eyes.

"We were hoping you knew, all we know is that Arena J is under maintenance because of whatever happened in the battlefield," Marucho stated.

"Arena J was almost completely destroyed, it amazed everyone you actually survived," Shun added.

"You didn't see anything?" Dan asked.

"Not a thing! We only say a black barrier with shaded vines, that's it," the blonde replied.

Shun spoke up once again, "Until some red energy broke through and destroyed the force field and the rest of the battlefield and almost the stadium. Strangely you looked unharmed, with that smoking pendant around your neck." The ninja pointed right at it with no trouble, seemingly accusing it. After letting his hand drop to his side Shun asked, "You're sure you don't have any idea what happened in there?"

"I don't really know, it was all a blur," Dan lied, not even knowing what to say anyway. The other reply floated in his head, _**Yah, I just got saved by my new partner that can turn into jewelry and a puppy. He had to battle a bird clawed goat with vines to save my life.**_

"Are you absolutely sure?" Marucho asked.

"Yes," the red eyed teen spoke, his throat dry. Both boys nodded, Shun headed to the door and disappeared behind it. Marucho looked at the door then at Dan,

"I'll try to get something that can calculate the energy and get some upgrades for Interspace."

When Marucho left, Canicos turned into a puppy and laid down beside the boy. _ "Are you feeling okay?" _the beast asked.

Dan nodded, "A little woozy."

"_They entered your mind?"_ Canicos questioned.

Dan shrugged, "I guess so... I did hear a voice... I couldn't even tell the gender..." Canicos nodded,

"_Then they did but you resisted, I could feel it."_ Dan looked at him with a confused look. _"Part of the Spirit Link, it also made sure you weren't burned to death."_ Dan nodded and tried to get up, but his body still felt weak, "What was that?"

"_First, you should rest so your body can recover from that encounter. Second, they are our __enemies, not as bad as Dark Hunters. They are like soldiers and scouts, called Dark Chimeras or just __Chimeras. They know you participate in...Bakugan Interspace and will kill you next time there if you come back there without proper training," _Canicos explained.

"Are you sure?" Dan asked the red pup, anxiety building in his chest and throat. What is they found him in the real world before training was over? He would not only let his partner and friends down but the whole world too.

_"Yes, they'll collect information on your location and begin to hunt you down and do away with you like they could've done today."_

"So you're saying that I'm hunting beasts and the evil beasts are trying to hunt me?"

_"Not yet, if you couldn't take that beast for a minute then you have no chance of taking down more powerful Dark Chimeras, Dark Hunters and their Dark Beasts, and not a hope to defeat beasts with otherworldly powers. I told you I will not be partnered with a weakling," _Canicos warned.

Dan nodded, Canicos was strict but not because he wanted to scold Dan and make up random training sessions; he was just trying to make sure his partner, he was most likely waiting for centuries in slumber, wasn't going to to killed at the beginning of his journey.

The teen would've been worried about nightmares that repeated his fear like a broken record or maybe a message from the freaky voice would appear in his sleep tonight but he was so tired he could've cared less. In minutes the guy was snoring like this was all normal for him.

That's when Drago spoke up, "Hey, I saw what you did. Thanks for getting him out of that tight spot."

Canicos looked up from behind their human partner with ears perked up. He gave a nod.

"So you can understand Bakugan."

Canicos nodded and spoke in dragon tongue, "_He is as much as a partner to me as he is your partner."_

Drago, being a _Dragon_oid, could understand what Canicos was saying; plus his special bond with Dan.

"_It was too easy,"_ Canicos spoke lowly.

"What do you mean?"

"_The history of the White Hunters, the group Daniel is apart of, is passed on when we return home from our quest. The earliest one was right after her training was complete, but this time... it was too soon... It should've been impossible to track him at such an early stage...unless..."_ Canicos explained.

Drago felt uneasy at the thought that this had never happened in the history of the 'White Hunters'. "Unless?" repeated Drago.

Canicos disappeared from the bakugan's view and quietly mumbling in the language of the Spirits, the one that let only Dan and himself talk privately, "_A Dark Hunter."_

* * *

><p>Wolfi's note: Sorry about the battle being cut short, I haven't practiced that yet and I haven't remembered what all the moves look like. It wasn't all that improtant for this story. I hope you enjoyed it and Review it so I may continue.<em><br>_


	3. Chapter 2

To clear things up:

Spirit Link: A Beast usually picks his\her ideal partner, causing the his\her chosen one to be lead to them using their hearts. Truly forms when the Hunter and Beast accept conditions of a pact. Much like Dan and Drago's bond, in the episode: Behind the Mask, Dan got hurt every time Drago did.

In Spirit Realms, (aka Silver Forest) if one of their spirit enters\exits the realm the other is pulled out or into the realm. The Spirit Link also enables the language of the Spirits (aka telepathy: able to read each others' mind or understand just their partner's words. )

_Language of the Spirits will be like this._

_**Thinking will be written like this**_

_This text will be dragon tongue_

Talking and normal text will be like this, of course

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><p>Chapter 3<p>

"_Twenty more," _Canicos told his partner, his tail flicked in curiosity, "_**There is more focus for his training now, maybe that will increase our chances."**_

"Alright! One, two, three," the Pyrus brawler shouted, choking on his words as he continued doing chin-ups. The new partners had been training for a good twenty minutes, 40 had been done,but the Vulcan beast was taking his partner's strength to his limit. Dan's arms were getting weaker each time. The dog warily stalked over to watch more closely, that's when Dan's hands slipped and the sixteen year old came down.

Canicos jumped away then padded over, "_Thirty-seven, not bad for your first time, but the second day will indicate your true strength." _Dan nodded and got up fast enough, his arms were sore from the training, since Bakugan Interspace went up, he hadn't trained in the real world, virtually was uncommon since he mostly battled.

"_Over there, that thing,"_ Canicos pointed with his snout towards the monkey bars, "_What is it?"_

"Umm... Monkey Bars," Dan replied.

"_Climb onto it and try to balance on one of the larger poles instead of the smaller ones,"_ the dog instructed.

"Testing my balance?" the teen asked. His partner nodded.

Getting onto the monkey bars was easy, but it turned out the slim circular bar made it tricky for Dan to keep his feet from touching the smaller bars. Taking one step in front of the other, the boy touched almost every small bar, he had made it past the second bar but had almost fallen off. Canicos sighed, "_We really do have a lot of work to do." _

Before Dan could get down, Canicos added one more instruction, "_Try doing a 'bridge' on the smaller poles, standing up."_

Dan's eyes widened but tried none the less, not being up to White Hunter standards only proved Canicos' point; that Dan would be in severe danger until be got at least close to the standards that had been set centuries ago. Dan lost his balance quickly, slipped through the bars, landed with a soft thud. Dan was able to clutch his neck and protect himself from any injuries.

"_Amazing,"_ Canicos spoke.

"That a teen with the 'Hunter destiny' is this out of shape?" added Dan, getting down on himself as he got up. The voice in his head rambled on, "_**Why did Canicos choose me?"**_

Canicos shook his head, "_Not really, you may lack balance but your reflexes are almost to Hunter's rank, a few things need to be touched up and that will be one thing covered."_

Dan smiled but the feeling fell short when Canicos added, "_40 crunches, 30 sit-ups."_ Dan almost immediately started, thinking, **"**_**I've got to get stronger**_**." **It was actually exciting to hit these harder standards, it made life less boring for the energetic teen. Little did he know that his teammates were spying on him, luckily they had only just got there.

They were honestly dumbfounded that _Dan Kuso_ was training like a athlete would instead of training for brawls. "_**Did another alien race kidnap Dan and put some other kid in his place?"**_ Marucho thought, to him it felt like the only thing that would make sense, the other was that it WAS true.

Shun still remembered the message of the Baku-meter, "Hey, guys. Just wanted to say that I'm gonna take a break from brawling for a little while. Let's just say I think need a break from it. Catch ya later."

The two brawlers watched as Dan finished off that exercise then started talking to the dog, "What's next?" The dog barked in reply before the two ran off with a burst of energy.

Both of the brawlers came out of their hiding place. "Well that was strange," Marucho spoke.

"Yah, unless Dan learned how to talk to dogs," added Tristar.

"I wonder... What is Dan exactly up to?" Marucho asked the older boy. The ninja was quiet then spoke,

"Training, but I'm not sure what... He'll tell us if he wants."

_"What does this do_?" asked the red pup.

"It's a baseball launcher, you shoot baseballs out of it," Dan replied. They were in Dan's school storage room, which Daniel had suggested for more training ideas. _"Good thing Drago knows about Canicos. I wish I could brawl like we used to but..." _Dan thought, some strange feeling like someone was listening to him, Dan ignored it when Canicos asked another question.

"_How many do you have?"_

"Four, why?" the boy replied.

_"Bring them out and let us try fixing your reflexes,"_ Canicos replied.

After setting them up in a square-like perimeter, each one fully loaded and pointed at the center of the Dan's school Gym, Dan found himself right in the middle of firing range.

"Umm... I think this isn't that safe?" Dan told the dog, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

_"And? You're in a position as an In-training Hunter that is already being hunted down; your position at this point isn't 'safe',_"Canicos replied, "_We need to whip you into shape as soon as possible."_

"I know but," Dan replied then saw a baseball came right for him, Dan was able to catch it easily. "Wow this is- ow!" the boy spoke, only to be hit in the back of his head at full force.

"_Focus!" _Canicos shouted in Dan's head. Another came from the right, Dan expected them all to shoot at him at once, but that wasn't the case; Canicos was darting around and turning them off and on in a random pattern.

Dan was on his toes by then, spinning on his heel to catch the next one coming at him. He caught the third, missed forth and fifth, and around thirtieth ball, Dan got so dizzy w

he literally tripped over his own two feet. Canicos stopped the rain of baseballs and padded over, _"If you were fighting a Chimera, you'd be dead by now."_

"I know that!" Dan snapped.

"_Good. Then you know that you need to try harder or face death and hand the world into the hands of evil,"_ Canicos spoke sternly, "_Besides, I think this is enough training for one day." _Dan was silent.

Canicos laid at the foot of Dan's bed, only every once in a while did he look up to see if Dan was back from dinner yet. Drago was just as clueless of Dan's whereabouts as Canicos was.

"_**I can't feel him nearby**__,"_ Canicos thought then padded up to the desk and hopped onto it. He opened a window using his snout and jumped out, landing like a cat. He sat down and licked one of his front paws then bolted to look for his partner.

The mini beast soon came to the Gym. With his sensitive hearing, he could hear something firing. The pup decided to take a look. Keeping close to the door, he saw Dan in the middle of the Gym with bruised forearms as baseballs came flying from one machine. Canicos snuck into the shadows to watch Dan's performance.

Another came at the boy, then he jumped into action. Canicos felt a jolt run through his body, small but noticeable. Dan used a back hand on it, throwing it aside then did the same with the other forearm. As quietly as possible, Canicos moved another launcher at Dan, who didn't notice. It was 2/3rds full but it would do.

Aiming it at Dan's back, Canicos let it come to life with one button. The first fired, Dan turned on his heel, not spinning but half turning; body facing the one in front while he whacked the other ball away.

The dog stopped the launchers and walked over to the boy, "_How long have you been here?"_

"Dunno," Dan shrugged.

"_**Guess we both have some trouble with time,"**_Canicos thought then started speaking, "_Well, It must've taken a while to turn those bruises such a dark colour. Don't they hurt?"_

Dan examined the marks before looking at Canicos, _"_Yah, but I've gotten a little better."

"_Much better, but I think all four would show if you've gained the level of skill needed," _Canicos told him.

"Well then let's do this!" Dan shouted, excited for getting this far.

"_Don't strain yourself, a chimera might be on our trail soon,"_ Canicos stated.

"Come on... We're so close to getting there; we should at least try,_" _Dan insisted.

After silence, Canicos nodded, "_Very well."_

After set up, Dan was a bit more confident, luckily he wasn't cocky. All at once, two machines would turn off and on, making Dan twisted and turn; staying away from spinning around. As Canicos continued to keep things running he couldn't help but think, "_**He's improving, but how much? Many beasts say that the second day of training bring out the true strength of humans."**_

Drago noticed the necklace on Dan's desk chair, which changed into the red puppy disguised as Canicos.

_"Where was he_?" Drago asked.

"_Training, he may be improving; that or he's actually pushed himself to the limit, which would make him an open target again,"_ Canicos replied.

After Dan barged in with a towel wrapped around his waist. "A nice bath after a long day really does the trick," he sighed. Canicos padded across the room silently, almost tripping Dan in the process, then jumped up and got on top of Dan's bed and curled up there with his eyes closed.

He slipped into his nightwear and headed for bed, turning off the lights and curling up in his covers. The boy mumbled before drifted into sleep, "Night Drago, Canicos."

The morning came quickly, especially with Dan's mom shouting, "Daniel, you're going to be late for school!" Dan bolted out of bed, "Snap! I totally forgot about school!" The boy began a high-speed run to get everything and prepare. He shot out of the room like a rocket, both Drago and Caicos could hear his heavy feet pounding the stairs.

_"Aren't you going after him?_" Drago asked.

Canicos stayed as still as stone, "_No, I have something to do here. In the Forest of Silver._"

At school, Dan had came in late for a test. Taking his seat and a pencil in his hand, Dan was having a little trouble. "_**Aw man... of all things it had to be Math.." **_

At first Dan felt totally normal, then he felt light-headed then he began swaying. Marucho, who skipped a few years of school, looked over at Dan, "You okay? You look dazed."

Dan grinned and looked Marucho's way and seemed to mouth something back. Dan tried speaking again, only seeming to mouth the words instead of say them. Suddenly Dan's eyes went blank and slumped like a doll. Marucho jumped out of his seat, Shun right after him; both trying to wake Dan up. Dan didn't wake up though, with that blank stare he remained like a lifeless doll.

For Dan, he only blinked, expecting to see the classroom and the teacher yelling at him but instead he found himself in Silver forest. He looked around to realize he was right, he was back in the Silver Forest; he amused that he was taken by the force of the Spirit Chain.

"_**If I'm here then Canicos must be close by,"**_ Dan thought then got to his feet and bolted off, **"**_**Besides this is WAY better than Math tests**_**."**

Eventually he noticed a golden light accompanied by a red light, Yeira and Canicos. "_How is Daniel Kuso?" _Yeira asked. Dan hid behind a large tree as he listened in.

"_He's more focused and he's improving. He most likely unknowingly used the Language of the Spirits yesterday and the bond is getting stronger. Do you have a Hunter weapon assigned?" _Canicos asked.

The golden woman raised an eyebrow, "_Why is that?"_

_ "They might be closing in on him, I can't do it alone. The only reason why I did so well protecting him was the first time was because it was an Earth Chimera, next time I may not be so lucky. You know Hunter and beast are stronger as one, not one fighting while the other is weakened," _Canicos explained.

_ "I actually think he deserves one, I already have one prepared," _Yeira spoke smoothly, she held out her hand and a thin, golden, wristband with a red gem appeared in her hand. Canicos' eyes widened,

_ "THAT one! You want Daniel to have that one!" _Yeira nodded then the wristband enlarged itself and Yeira placed it around Canicos' neck.

"_Give it to him when the Darkness tries to attack again, a Hunter doesn't need a weapon of any sort, especially Sacred Ones, when there is no enemy to fight," _Yeira spoke.

_"Alright, I must go now," _ Canicos explained.

_"Farewell," _the woman spoke. Canicos breathed a ring of fire onto the trees and walked throught, disappearing along with any sign of burned plants. Dan looked at his feet, sparks and flames of different colours burning a hole around him. After making a perfect circle, Dan fell into the darkness.

Dan blinked again and found himself being dragged down the hall. He squirmed free, his classmates dropped him and looked at him in awe. Dan knew what had happened, so he had a feeling that he must've 'passed out'.

When Daniel got back to class, he had trouble focusing and sitting in his seat, he was actually excited to start training because of the news he collected that morning. A weapon meant that this time, for saving the world, Dan could actually fight physically by his partner's side. _**"I wonder what kind of weapon it is, Canicos has got to know; maybe he'll tell me what it is. Or will he wait 'till I'm ready for it or a Chimera comes around? May it-!" **_ Dan thought then heard the bell and rushed off. As he grabbed his things and stuffed them into his backpack, the teacher was yelling at him; Dan didn't care the slightest.

"Hey Mom!" Dan called out as he rushed upstairs and into his room. Canicos lifted up his head from his curled up form on the bed, Dan couldn't help but look at the golden coloured collar with a scarlet gem around the dog's neck. Canicos spoke, "_Next time actually approach us, we aren't enemies."_

Dan scratched the back of his head and gave an embarrassed smile_, "_Y-you knew?" The dog nodded,

"_I called out to you the first time when you were far away, Daniel, I could sense you like I can here; only in the Hunter's Sanctuary can my kind sense everything at enters the entire world."_

"You said you were weaker when you fought that last one, is that true?" Dan asked.

"_I was and still am, a partnership is only as strong as its weakest member, that it taken literally. The more stronger you get, the more the pact allows me to grow strong as well. I may be born from the Vulcan flame but I have been waiting for you and weakening in my slumber for centuries," _Canicos explained.

"Then why me!" Dan asked in a frustrated tone. Canicos stared into the red eyed boy and only after a few minutes did he back down and get up onto all fours,

"_Let us just go train, I will tell you my reasons later,"_ the dog spoke. Dan's short temper was about to set off when Canicos changed into his Artifact form. The sixteen year old gritted his teeth for a second and snatched up the necklace before leaving the room. Drago opened up again, it seemed that Canicos and Dan were having the same troubles as Dan and himself.

Dan didn't have to be told once, let alone twice. He was a little sore, especially with arm exercises but that didn't seem to stop the human. Canicos was impressed, "_**He IS getting better, a little weaker then yesterday but not too bad."**_

Canicos watched with great interest, his partner was exactly what he wanted, well almost. The dog's ears perked as he turned his gaze from Dan to the ocean. Some young kids were pointing and saying words only Dan would understand (Canicos can only understand Dan and no other humans) and their mothers pulling them away.

The beast-in-disguise padded over to see what was the matter, "_**Is this 'Bayview' always like this?" **_Canicos found out that this wasn't true, the waters were acting strange. Changing patterns in one specific area while the rest of the ocean was normal.

A shock went through the fire beast's system, at that same moment Dan had felt one himself and fell from his perch in the monkey bars; which he was able to do. Dan sat up and noticed Canicos step slowly away from the edge of the walkway, but stopped in the middle.

A water geyser, larger than normal, burst into the air. People went running in fear of what it was. As the water spread out, a dark blue lizard with crystallized eyes, feet, and tail about the size of a bus burst out. It only took one snarl from Canicos before a ball of fire curled around him. Canicos' true form exploded out and intercepted the beast. Dan expected Canicos to beat him down like before he passed out, but the lizard curled himself around the Hunter's partner and slammed him into the concrete.

Canicos growled as he began to attempt to break through the grip, only after a couple harsh bites did the Chimera throw him into the ocean.

"Canicos!" Dan cried rushed over, not caring if he was a ready Hunter or not; Dan wasn't about to loose the partner that saved his life.

The lizard turned the human's way and took his icy spiked tail and slapped the boy away. It stalked over and seemed to try to grin, but it had no teeth, only an icy breath that stretched a fairly good distance.

Dan got to his feet, his partner was dying and he knew it. Canicos was fire, the last chimera was earth but this one was water, also carrying the Vulcan beasts weakness. Dan's blood boiled suddenly, he had to get to his partner. _"Don't die, Canicos!"_ he thought, speaking telepathically by accident. The boy tried time after time to get to the ocean, where his partner sank to the ocean floor.

Under the water, the wolf-dragon felt this blood-boiling surge come through his system, including the message. With the last breath available, a vaporizing blast of flame burst through the ocean, Dan's partner flying upward fast enough to escape the water's tides.

Using his black wings, Canicos soared and descended like a missile at the beast, digging his claws into his opponent. The beast screeched in pain, but it grew short and high when Canicos gouged

the diamond eyes. Slimy blue ice dropped to the ground.

Canicos leaped off as the beast blindly hit a pole. Gliding over Canicos stood side by side his partner. "_I felt that one,"_ Canicos spoke, _"I was thinking about giving your weapon to you later but I think I won't be able to take on a water attributed chimera any time soon." _The Beast threw up its head and howled the golden collar glowed, responding, and sent itself up into the air. It grew smaller and smaller until it was the size of a teen's wrist. It stopped in mid-air in front of Dan, glowing like a star. "_It knows its new master," _Canicos explained before rushing at the aquatic lizard, slashing at it. Even blind, the lizard seemed to be beating Canicos.

Dan hesitated for an instant, almost touching the thin piece of jewelry then snatched the wristband from the air, it stopped glowing almost instantly. Slipping it onto his right wrist, it felt like it was made especially for him, it glowed again with a blinding light.

When Dan opened his eyes, he held a sword a little longer than his arms with ancient engravings, a fantastic hilt with a large red gem on either side; but that wasn't the only thing different. He wore a red gauntlet on his right and a regular glove on the other, both were half fingered gloves. The other glove had a band on it, larger and held a silver shield. Steel-toed with front plate boots replaced his regular shoes. His pants looked darker with knee guards. His torso had a white tank top and a soldier-like jacket, with protections over his heart and elbows. A fiery red headband completed the outfit. This outfit also felt like a perfect fit.

"Sweet!" Dan shouted, looking at the features.

Canicos was thrown back, almost hitting Dan but the boy jumped out of harm's way. "_How about using Excalibur against our opponent?"_

"_Excalibur?Like the one King Arthur used?" _Dan replied telepathically again.

"_Yes,"_ Canicos replied, "_Now back to business."_

Dan nodded, a little surprised he was actually talking in the Language of the Spirits, then Canicos laid down, letting Dan got mount him. Dan felt the spiked fur than seemed to feel softer than he had expected.

The lizard stood on its hind legs and new eyes popped into place. Grabbing onto Canicos' scruff and crouching on the dragon-wolf's wide back, another surge came through both of them. Canicos bolted at the Chimera with wings outspread. Pounding the beast, raking with chest with claws, and biting into its neck, the fight pursued onward. Dan jumped and landed on the slippery head of the lizard, he almost slipped off but stabbed the base of the neck.

Icicles, that were the scales, burst out of the lizard's skin and stabbed Dan mercilessly, Canicos backed off but also refused to leave his partner behind. Dan stayed on, his body had been protected last minute but the shield, but his arm and lower legs was cut up badly; lucky for Dan the gauntlet and guards kept the icicles from striking his elbow and hand.

The chimera tried to shake Dan off as he climbed on its back and onto its head. "I liked you better blind!" Dan shouted as he drove Excalibur into the beast's right eye. It shook its head, quickly able to throw Dan away.

The Hunter hit the black wings and fell onto Canicos' back. Getting into a good position, the duo rushed at their opponent. Canicos, with a mouth of yellow flames, latched onto the reptile-like creature's neck, melting it slowly.

The beast looked at Dan with rage and was about to attack Canicos' partner when Canicos spoke , _"Touch the gem and throw Excalibur!" _ Dan, with adrenaline in his veins, quickly touched it. Suddenly the blade spread apart; changing into a lethal and titanic boomerang longer than Dan's arms length. Using a combined boomerang and discus formation, Dan sent the weapon flying. Canicos unlocked his grip on the neck, pushing the beast back, and blew a small flame onto the boomerang as it pasted by.

Excalibur, now lit with flames, flew silently around and sliced cleanly through the neck; decapitating the chimera. It disappear with the faint smell of salty waters and the feeling of frostbite in the air.

Dan dismounted clumsily as the golden glow appeared and disappeared, Dan was back in his normal clothes with the thin golden wristband on his wrist. "That rocked..." Dan spoke as he turned to his partner, still in his true form, and collapsed.

"_Daniel!"_ the beast cried and laid down to examine the cuts on Dan's right arm. "_I cannot leave him here, I'll have to take him back to his home."_ With that Canicos picked up Dan with his paw and jumped into the air. As he flew, his dragon claws kept Dan in his paw, he was high enough to look like a bird of some sort. Canicos was also feeling exhausted, which reminded him of who weak he was. "_**If a Lower Ranked Chimera was here, and not in Interspace; there must be a Hunter here. I cannot give up anymore information for Dan's sake,"**_ Canicos thought.

With that, as risky as it was, Canicos changed to a puppy with wings. Gripping Dan with both paws, he, carefully as he could, descended onto the grass. He tumbled off Dan's back and collapsed himself, changing into a necklace around Dan's neck.

Dan woke up in his bed and a bandaged arm and lower legs, Drago was on the dresser while Canicos was lying right by Dan's side.

"You okay?" Drago asked.

"Yah..." Dan spoke.

"_Like your new Hunter uniform?" _Canicos asked.

_ "_Yah," Dan said with a smile then remembered something, "You said you'd tell me after training why you picked me."

"_That's good and yes I did. The reason is for your heart and persistence, some White Hunters have fallen to the Darkness; causing their beasts to become evil as well. You have a strong heart and a every persistent attitude. I wanted to depend on my partner not to fall to the darkness, and one that would continue toward the goal. I also wanted a fiery spirit, and I also see that in you." _

Dan was silent, Canicos didn't want a partner that was strong or fast, he wanted one that would be strong and not give in to darkness, and a strong spirit; someone he could depend on to stick with the White Hunters no matter what._ "Now I say we all get some sleep, the sun is down, especially you Daniel,"_Canicos pointed out.

Dan easily drifted off to sleep, but a few hours later, Canicos was just about to fall asleep himself. He had been thinking about who could be the newest member of the Dark Hunters. "_**We will track you down, and when we do, I certainly won't hold back; plus I'll have a White Hunter with me as my partner at the exact standards needed. We are a force that will strike you down," **_the beast vowed as he closed his amber eyes.

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><p>DONE! How do you like it! Who do you think the Dark Hunter is! The two Hunters are trying to find each other, hunting the other down as the other tries to find them first. Who will it be? Review and I shall continue. Oh and there will be a pic on my account with Dan in his Hunter's uniform.<p> 


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A little extra to clear things up:

Yeira: Yeira, as most of you know, is a spirit; she is apart of the Forest of Silver and can control the world. She is the only being in the Forest of Silver that can communicate to all Animageous and Hunters. This is why Animageous' call her "Lady" Yeira. Her powers do have limits.

Animageous: pronounced "Ani-mage-ous", Canicos' species but are uncommonly known as "White Beasts" but like this term because it separates them from their evil sub-species. Animageous are actually smaller than Bakugan but hold much more power (it was changed due to many things that could go wrong because of the size, so ignore the prologue description about that) .

Disclaimer: I do not own the Bakugan Characters, I do own the plot, the weapon designs and my own Characters. Please, no stealing.

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><p>Dan rode Canicos' back through the forest of grey. The chocolate brown haired boy discovered from now on in the Forest of Silver, he would be wearing his uniform. "So... where are we going?" Dan asked, the atmosphere a little too quiet for his taste.<p>

"_You're going to train here for swordsmanship, the last thing a Hunter needs is not knowing how to properly use their weapon,"_ Canicos replied. Dan sighed with a bit of boredom while Canicos followed by a dog-like grin before speeding off. Dan was forced to quickly grab onto the scruff of the dragon-wolf's neck while the rest of his body was up in the air like a kite trying to fly.

"Slow down!" Dan shouted at the top of his lungs. Instead of stopping, the beast turned sharply, tossing Dan higher into the air for a moment or two.

Canicos came to a stop, leaving his partner sprawled on the beast's back. Canicos turned his head, glancing at Dan before shaking his head. "_**Humans...**_" Canicos thought.

The teen, surpirsingly still on Canicos' back, got to his feet to see they were in a clearing with a temple in the middle. The temple looked ancient only built with silver stones instead of dusty brown or grey, wrapped in dull green ivy instead of grey. Canicos laid down to let Dan off, _"This is where you'll train with weapons and skills, the White Hunter's Training Chamber."_

Dan leaped off then looked at his partner in the eyes, "So no more training on Earth?" At this point Dan was confused about that, he had been working on basic training for about a weak, with a few chimera battles every so often; or more like flour times that week.

_"No, techniques only need to be memorized, your body will need to train physically," _Canicos explained.

Dan took a deep breath before replying, "Alright then; so I just go inside."

The black winged wolf nodded, and with that the human reached for his sword strapped to his back and held it in his right hand before racing up the steps to start his training.

The inside was just the same as the outside, except the walls had millions of gems in them, which the light from the opening took in and the gems bounced the light off each other, causing beams of light with all sorts of colours to dart around the room. The walls were bare other than that, but Dan soon saw some engravings in the left wall.

The engravings turned out to be names in columns of twenty and it seemed there was fifty or so rows of them._**"Is my name in here?**__"_ Dan thought then put the sword back where it was before. As he looked through the many names of partnerships throughout the years, at the very end, with no other columns or name below it, was the name "Daniel Kuso" with "Canicos of the Vulcan Flame" beside his own name.

After examining, Dan noticed a pattern, it seemed that farther on, more names had been crossed out. One of the earliest one's was Mordred, King Arthur's relative.** "**_**Did they... become Dark Hunters?"**_

Shaking it off, Dan left and headed towards the dark hallway. Darkness blanketed the world and blinded Dan at the same time, but the boy continued onward to his training, wherever that would take place.

Suddenly the light decided to come out of hiding and took the darkness' job on blinding Dan, leaving the Hunter-in-training at the entrance with his arms over his face, almost wanting to run back into the darkness like a vampire as the morning arose.

Once the boy's eyes adjusted, Dan let his arms slowly come back to his sides. The light had exploded out from large, white jewels that were placed in the stone walls. In the middle of the room was a stone soldiers from medieval times, and all beside the walls were all kinds different metallic beasts, everyone you could think of was there, and other soldiers like it.

A golden mist slipped in between the cracks of the floor, casting a glorious colour of the world of black and white. An image of a woman appeared, it was Yeira. She grinned and spoke usual smooth, graceful voice, "_I want to be part of your becoming, Daniel. So, like the rest of the hunters, I will train you to use your weapons properly."_

Dan nodded then suddenly the armour sprang to life, making him jump, Yeira held out her arm, and grasped the hilt on a faded replica of Excalibur. Holding it at her waist pointing up, both Yeira and the armour sprang to life.

The armour charged while Yeira dodged and raised her sword slightly, slicing the wrist guard open, causing the armour's hand to fall to the ground. With sudden rage, it attacked again in such a way that the spirit would have to tuck and roll, but instead she sent the sword replica to clash with the other sword. She twisted it around her opponent's arm like a serpent wrapping itself around a branch and sliced the other wrist just a bit. She drew back, letting her opponent charge, only to pivot on the last moment and raised the sword fairly high and slice the collar of the metal; then the armour finally faded.

_"You see, when fighting you must find weak points in your opponent, the neck is almost always the weak point, but you must take out the dangers of the opponents first, like the wrists on a human for example; also you can finish off an opponent that is humanoid by slashing the stomach area, but isn't always a fatal move. The same things go for Chimeras and Dark Beasts,_" Yeira explained.

She looked over at the wall and motioned to a tiger-like beast to come forward. _"We'll start with opponents your size then work on the bigger ones. And don't worry, they are like toys, they don't feel; __they're just puppets,"_ Yeira added.

Dan nodded warily then stepped forward, facing the tiger-like beast. Yeira stayed back and gave a nod, then suddenly the tiger-like beast changed it's form, to look more like an Earth Chimera only Earth tiger sized, and lounged for Dan with sharp claws waiting to dig into his flesh. Dan pivoted to the side and tried to find any "weakspots", his punishment for not thinking fast enough was a harsh swipe across his forehead.

Dan cried in pain and jumped back, pressing a hand over the cut. With the other eye still able to see, he saw the next leap. Jumping out of the way, he found himself leaping left and right to evade the beast's feisty claws. Yeira sighed and shook her head but didn't stop the fight.

That's when Dan noticed something. "_**Wait! That might be it!"**_Dan thought then let it try to swipe him, it cost him a cut in his arm, but Dan was able to slip Excalibur under the paw and slice it straight across the pad of the animal-like armour while at the same time jabbing the tip of his sword into the chest. It toppled over and faded, turning into smoke.

A small, slow clap, appeared, Dan looked over at Yeira, who smiled and gave a small nod. Dan returned the smile, not realizing that the wound on his arm and forehead had disappeared, only for a metallic bird about to claw at him with it's sharp talons.

In surprised Dan fell to the ground, loosing his sword in the process that fell a half a meter away from him, and rolling over to dodge the talons of the bird, his size. It grabbed the circled above him before diving in for another attack. Dan scrambled away before it could do any damage to him, heading for his weapon. Overhead, the bird flew above, only for it to realize Dan's next move. As it headed for Dan, Dan reached for the hilt. Then the bird came down on him.

Silence filled the room, fog appeared again; only for Yeira to command the fog to disappear with ancient words beyond the Language of Spirits, _"_."_ The spirit was surprised on what she saw, Daniel had actually used his sword to defend himself but placing it in the way of the bird at the last moment.

Dan stood up and grinned, but this time it wasn't returned, she slipped away to another corridor. The Hunter-in-training followed her to another room. Dan was in awe of it, more than half of the chamber floor was gone, only darkness in the pit. In the middle of the pit was six crystals tied to the ceiling higher up. The room was dimly lit but the large crystals shone beautifully.

"_Change your weapon to its aerial form and try to break the crystals in half,"_ Yeira told him.

"What?" Dan replied.

"_The Boomerang," _Yeira replied simply.

Feeling a little stupid, Dan touched the gem at the base of the hilt, letting it change from a sword to a Boomerang. Using the form he used before, he sent it towards the middle one, to his surprise it completely missed it's target and went back to him. On the second try, to repeated an unsuccessful attempt. By the forth time, Dan started to get a little frustrated, "_**Why isn't this working! It worked **__**before! So what if its a sword, it- Its a sword, maybe if I use another way to throw it, it'll work."**_

Trying a new strategy, Dan gripped it with his good hand and twisted his torso and threw it diagonally. It turned itself as it flew but it made a good slice that almost made it to the middle. It came back as smooth as ever, as if it never hit anything.

Yeira smiled at time and spoke, "_Good job, young Daniel Kuso, but we must stop the training for now; Canicos is calling you."_ Dan suddenly found himself falling down some kind of hole, away from Yeira's golden glow, that soon engulfed him.

"DANIEL, YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE AGAIN!" Dan's mother called. Dan's eyes snapped open and pratically threw himself and his Animageous partner right out of bed, yelling, "Oh SNAP!" He was racing to get himself ready for school. Canicos told him simply, "_Dan, Excalibur..." _

_ "_Oh, right!" Dan told the little dog as he snatched the golden wristband from his nightstand, "Thanks, buddy." He raced to stairs, his only flaw was leaving his backpack in his room again. Canicos looked at the backpack as he approached it.

By the time Dan got to school, he was exhausted. He went over to the bike rack and chained up his bike. For once he was on time. "_So this is your 'school'..." _Canicos' voice sounded in his head. "_**Oh no.."**_ Dan thought as he took off his backpack. Sure enough the puppy's head was peeking out. Dan plucked him out of the bag, letting it drop. Before he could say anything, about a dozen girls came right at him and swarmed him, all talking about the puppy.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" One asked.

"Boy," Dan answered quickly.

"What's his name?" Another asked.

"Umm... Red," Dan replied.

_**"Red. Really, Dan...?"**_Canicos thought.

"Oooo! Can I hold him!"

Suddenly all the girls that surrounded him were arguing about who should hold 'Red' first. One girl finally brang it to herself to pluck Canicos from Dan. She was surprised for a moment then hugged him, "Aww... He's soooo soft!" Most of the girls crowded around the trapped Canicos while the rest asked Dan a bunch of questions.

"_DANIEL! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!" _Canicos cried out, but Dan was too busy to think about it or answer it.

When the bell rang, the duo was left uneasy and confused. Dan watched as Canicos retreated to the backpack before running off to class.

During class, Dan had hung his bag at the side of his seat, Canicos poked his head out from time to time. Before Dan had been begging for answers to his homework that was forgotten, which was quite amusing for Canicos, Marucho was kind enough to tell him how to do it.

Suddenly the class was interrupted by someone opening the door, when Dan looked up, the teen had a shocked look on his face. The girl was about his age with light skin, green eyes, and flowing long light blue hair that was tied in pigtails. Runo Misaki.

The teacher introduced the Exchange student; who was clarified to be Runo Misaki and she sat down at the front of the class. Dan was happy to see Runo, of course, but that didn't mean her timing was a little off; now even more was on his plate. In fact he felt like hitting his head on the desk because of the stress, but didn't so he didn't look like he was loosing it.

"_Who's that? You seem to know her..." _Canicos asked.

"_She's my girlfriend from Japan..."_ Dan replied telepathically.

"_This is going to put a dent into things,"_ Canicos replied.

_"I know..."_

When school ended, Runo raced up to Dan, who was carefully placing things into his backpack. "Hey Dan... Umm... Did you miss me at all?"

Dan picked up his bag and gave her a nod, "I was wondering maybe we could... go out tonight."

Runo blushed then replied, "That would be great!"

"Meet you at the fountain in the park at seven."

"The one in the park?"

"Yah, we can go see a movie later."

"Alright, see you."

With that Runo left, leaving Dan wondering what he had done. "_You might just be digging your own grave..." _Canicos commented. Dan could help but smile nervously at the comment.

Dan left school and headed home on his bike, thinking about the many things that could go wrong. "_**If a Chimera comes tonight, I'm doomed in more ways than one." **_With a sigh, Dan opened he door and slowly walked up to his room and flopped onto the bed. Canicos leaped out of the bag and watched his stressed out partner quietly.

After a good ten minutes, Dan looked up and started doing some sit-us. "_I guess I'm gonna have __to balance my life out between training and my regular life," _Dan said in telepathy accidentally.

"_Good idea. Daniel, I'll help you out tonight on trying to make this as smooth as possible," _Canicos replied.

"Okay," Dan replied, this time in human speech. Dan was beginning to understand how to talk to Canicos in the Language of the Spirits, but there was another bump in the road; he was having trouble switching so much that his thoughts sometimes were spoken telepathically.

The training calmed Dan slightly, but once it was over the partners started working on a game plan. If there was any trouble, they had most likely thought of it.

Dan stepped out of the house at six-forty in a red jacket and some nice jeans, and Excalibur's wristband and Canicos' necklace of course, not exactly ideal for a date but good enough. Hopping onto his bike to save time, Dan sped towards the park.

His arrival was fairly smooth as he stopped and moved his bike to a nearby bicycle rack. As he finished chaining the bike, Dan found himself within a shadow. When he looked up, he saw Runo in a beautiful blue and yellow dress with her flowing long hair not tied up in pigtails for once. Dan looked up and further examined Runo's outfit. "Wow," was the best thing he could say.

They started heading over to the cinema when Dan felt the weird sensation he had felt the previous day. Almost automatically, Dan tensed up and glanced around, trying to look as normal as possible. Dan glanced behind him and slowed down a little bit before slipping the necklace and quickly tossing the necklace away into the bush. "Hey, Dan. Are you coming?" Runo asked, waiting over at the crosswalk.

Dan watched the little auburn pup burst out of the shrubs and scamper away. He turned his attention to Runo and called, "Coming!"

For about half the movie, Dan was just trying to be as relaxed as possible so Runo wouldn't notice. Finally, Dan could hear Canicos' voice, but it wasn't close to being reassuring, "_Daniel, I found the Chimeras!"_

Dan flinched then replied, "_Wait! Chimeras, plural! Are you saying there's more than one!"_

_ "This should not be a hard thing to understand, Daniel! Don't you understand that! I'm at the- GAH!" _With that, Canicos didn't speak.

"_**Crap!"**_ Dan thought then quickly told Runo, "I've got to go to the bathroom." Dan jumped out of his seat and rushed out out of the cinema. Dan raced across the crosswalk and leaped into some shrubs before trying to activate Excalibur, he guessed the red gem; which seemed to be the correct action. Dan found himself back in his Hunter uniform and went in search for his partner. "_Canicos, where-!"_ Dan telepathically called before he found two claws grabbing his jacket and lifting him off the ground and lifting him higher and higher up into the sky.

Daniel squirmed in shock of suddenly being plucked off the ground like a leaf. He eventually looked up to catch his captor's appearance, only to see Canicos; Dan's face almost immediately brightened at the sight. "Nice to see you, buddy!" Dan called, glad that we wasn't in the claws of his enemies.

"_Same to you,"_ Canicos spoke fairly calm until he growled and flicked his ears, "_Hold on!" _Suddenly a rooster with gold, green, and most black two headed bird crashed through the clouds and screeched at the two of them as it plunged to wound the wolf-dragon. The Animageous snarled back and flew below it, only to be swiped at the tail.

In rage, it shrieked again and sped after them. "_Ready, Dan!" _Canicos suddenly asked.

"Ready for wha-aaaah!" Dan asked, not intending to speak in English, only to be tossed into the air sideways, which made his yell to the top of his lungs; finding himself free-falling diagonally.

Canicos dove towards the Earth while the phoenix locked its dark crimson eyes on Dan. It got closer, and closer; when it was close enough Dan readied himself for the worst; death. Dan quickly found himself on Canicos' back and gaining altitude again.

Steadying himself as he got to his feet, Dan pulled out Excalibur from its sheath, but almost instantly changed it to its aerial form. Suddenly, before Shun could even attack the beast, the bird slammed into Canicos and the two ended up in a close range fight. Canicos bit into it's neck while one of the heads copied Canicos' action while the other tried to reach for Canicos' rider; but both creatures fell through the sky as they beat one another with their wings, trying to decide who would perish first.

As for Dan, he had to hold onto Excalibur and Canicos' fur as he dodged the angry head; every time it missed, it would shriek at him. After a few close calls, Dan finally changed Excalibur back to a sword and saw a opening, and let is sword hand let go of Canicos, causing him to sway. The head came right at him, only for its shriek to stop short. The bird cried out in agony and pushed Canicos away before soaring higher into the clouds and sky. "_We have to follow it,"_ Canicos informed before flying higher. Out of curiosity, Dan looked back at the falling severed head and just caught a glimpse of it turning to smoke.

Suddenly Dan felt something hard stab his sides and throw him off Canicos. It was the bird, this time with three heads, curving upward towards the sky, only for Canicos to block its path. Swiftly, Dan grabbed hold of the large scale-like claw. The three heads screamed in rage and headed for their leg. Seeing them try to attack him at once, Daniel lunged for the other claw, just grabbing hold before the talon caught him. The creature beat its wings, trying to create bruises on Dan's arm, but only fell farther. Before it could even fly straight the Vulcan Flame beast came down and tried to sink his claws and fangs into it, the beast was forced to fly downward. After many tries of trying to tare Dan to pieces and dodging Canicos's aerial attacks, they were about a couple feet above the ground.

Suddenly a giant brown lizard that looked like a t-rex and a dragon combined, without wings, burst out of the ground and ripped the bird's leg right off. _**"Holy Godzilla!" **_Dan's thoughts screamed as he came tumbling down onto the wrecked concrete then quickly cleared his head.

Dan was about to get up and face the beast with sword in hand but realized that the sword had been dropped from about 40 stories up in the air before he landed. Looking around frantically, Dan caught a glimpse of a stubby arm coming straight for him. Lunging out of the way, the earth shattered like shrapnel under the powerful claw. Dan's eyes grew wide with nervousness as he imagined himself taking that hit. The beast growled before disappearing back into its hole.

In no time, the concrete below him started to break, causing Dan to bolt away and the beast rupture out of the ground and look for its target before disappearing back into its hole. Dan easily found himself moving diagonally, trying to dodge the beast.

Dan looked up into the sky for a moment to see Canicos and the one-legged bird locked into aerial battle. Dan continued to bolt as he spoke in the language of the spirits, "_Canicos! I lost Excalibur!"_

_ "You did what!"_ Canicos replied, shocked.

_ "I know it was stupid! Can you see it up there!"_ Dan replied telepathically.

"_I can, it's by the trail," _ Canicos answered.

With that clarified, Dan made a mad dash for the road. As he ran closer to the road, he was relieved slightly to see his golden sword glowing in the earth, since the blade was stabbed into the concrete. Noticing that the earth was rising again under his feet only a metre away from the sword, Dan made one leap and did a near perfect front flip, grabbing Excalibur in the process, and landing fairly steady. As the beast appeared, Dan dashed forward and sliced the two stubby arms. The creature roared in pain before lunging for Dan, only for Dan to pivot and leap backwards, then retreating down into the ground.

'Godzilla' wasn't the only beast that cried out in pain, Dan looked up again to see the bird being burned to smoke by Canicos's hot flame. Flying down, Dan leaped into the air, landing onto Canicos' paw. Seeing the two fly back to the original battle grounds where Dan had avoided the chimera, the lizard tunnelled away. As Canicos descended, Dan clambered up onto Canicos' back.

When Canicos landed, the beast came out of hiding again only to be fooled as Canicos beat his powerful black wings and pouncing onto it, digging his claws under the scales. The chimera roared before his spiked, pine tree-like tail wrapped around Canicos' neck. In anger, Canicos bit into its neck only for the dark chimera to copy him. Dan almost immediately sliced the tail off Canicos and , able to see with Canicos' head lowered, jumped down onto the beasts head and stab his sword into its temper. With a roar of pain, it was silenced as both weak spots were hit. The beast almost immediately turned to dust.

Dan's serious face turned into a smile as he turned to his partner, "Did you see that flip I did! Man, if Shun saw me do that he wouldn't know what to think! I bet both of Marucho and Shun...would" Dan's voice started to trail off into silence. Something didn't feel right still, the same uneasiness of the chimeras hovered above the partners. "_**What's going on?"**_ Dan thought, messing up again.

"_DANIEL!"_ Canicos' voice blared in Dan's head as the animageous lunged for his partner. Dan looked up at his partner and saw that he had actually shielded the hunter-in-training from a beast. Canicos swiftly slammed his wings into the beast, causing it to fly off him. It gained balance easily, landing with its nails scratching the cement, making the sound of nails on a chalkboard. Canicos whirled around and dashed at it in response. Dan could see no details of the creature because of the dusky black blanket that surrounded it.

Suddenly a swift human figure, caped in darkness as well, raced at Dan, sword raised to possibly cut Dan's head off. In response to the move, Dan used his shield to block and stab at the human figure. The human figure jumped back and tried a strike to the side, catching Dan's arm, luckily Dan used his sword to stop the person from causing his any more wounds. His opponent was stronger than him by a little, as the owner of the blade pressed it closer. Dan leaped back and tried to slice the wrist of his opponent. The creature that was fighting Canicos flew over, the humanoid figure leaping onto the beast and the two of them disappeared into a void of darkness.

Dan saw Canicos on his feet again and raced over, "That was a Dark Beast and Hunter, right?" Canicos nodded with solemn and serious look in his eyes.

"_We must be careful and try to get you to Hunter standards as fast as possible. You're close, Daniel, so we finish it off and fast," _ Canicos explained.

"_Right!"_ Dan replied, "_But what about the uniform?"_

_ "Put your sword in hand and cross it over your heart and whisper, 'Return to the Silver',"_ Canicos answered. Dan tried out and followed Canicos' instructions, then a silver light cloaked him before turning gold and the light flowing onto his wrist, changing into his wristband.

"_Good. Now you better get going before your lover comes looking for you,"_ Canicos replied before changing into a necklace again. Dan's eyes widened again thinking, "_**I almost forgot about Runo!"**_ Dan quickly snatched Canicos' necklace from the ground and raced off to the cinema, hoping he wasn't in big trouble with Runo.

* * *

><p>Done! Geeze, this took like a month to do, sorry for the wait. I hope you guys like the next chapter. Now can anyone guess who the Dark Hunter is! PM me if you think you know, I'd love to hear you guess. Please review, either way, so I can continue. (You guys inspire me to write when you review.) The pic of Dan will be up soon along with Canicos' pic on my DA account.<p> 


	5. Chapter 4

Hunter's Fire

Chapter 4

* * *

><p>"<em>Dan, our test is approaching quickly, we should be training and testing you on your techniques and abilities,"<em> Canicos warned.

"_I know but, unless I want to get into trouble, I have to go to school. Luckily my last class is PE," _Dan answered.

"_Alright, but afterwards we have to make sure you're ready, since test is tonight,"_Canicos replied, understanding and agreeing.

After the last encounters, Dan took the red puppy everywhere, at school he stayed hidden in his bag, but it was mainly because the test was going to come earlier than planned. Yeira had told them this last night, and it was all thanks to the Dark Hunter and his Dark Beast. It took the teenager a bit to understand that Canicos was only worried about this because this may be a test we wasn't ready for just yet. Hopefully that was wrong.

Dan set the bag nearby on the field then joined his class for the run. "6 laps!" the teacher instructed. Noticing, Canicos watching by looking out the top, Dan decided to prove his speed right then and there.

Shun, as usual, easily took the lead in the laps, but quickly noticed someone gaining on him. He glanced at him wide eyed when Daniel came beside him. Dan inwardly chuckled, Shun looked shocked at Dan's new level of speed. Shun sped up to Dan's pace and the two began to test each other's sped.

Canicos watched with amusement, unlike many of the other tired kids who were just dumbfounded. The cheerful moment became darkened by what was to come, Dan would have to pass a test that they had been training hard for, but the real question was if it was enough or not; if they failed it would spell major trouble.

Gym class turned into a friendly rivalry between the two, mainly caused by Dan's cocky personality showing. To Canicos, it really was a good thing, if Dan could be as hard working trying to beat that other boy in the test, he would be fine.

* * *

><p>Once the day ended, the usual routine of the partners transporting to the Silver Forest began again. When the white that crossed Dan's vision developed the shadings and objects of the black and white world, he discovered he was somewhere he had never been before.<p>

There were stone walls covered in vines that were so tall it made Dan feel as small as if he was a mouse. The floor had stone flooring with plants coming through the crevasses. Also, Canicos was somehow not with him.

Finally, the gold smoke appeared and Yeira finally had made an entrance, "_Hello, Daniel, it is time for your test."_

"Sooo how does it go?" Dan asked in reply. Yeira once again gave her cheerful grin. "_I'm glad you asked," _he then motioned to the maze itself, "_There will be many puzzles and riddles to hide the __Beast's whereabouts, so you must find you're way through by choosing the right paths, you'll then cross two fields then return to the castle. If you complete it, you will become an Official White Hunter."_

"I will complete it," Dan spoke, determined to prove himself. Yeira only smiled before disappearing off into nothing. With that, Dan bolted down the path, first going for the right. It seemed to go on forever and seemed to be just a running test, but then that was proved wrong when about 15 spears went flying at him. Seeing them, Dan was forced to go hit the ground, hard. Dan groaned but quickly got up and continued to race on. After about 150 more spears came at him in different spots, Dan unfortunately found out, the hard way , that there was a dead end there. He swallowed and turned around, preparing himself for the way back.

Manoeuvring through the maze became easier as he continued onwards, there seemed to be an issue with just one thing; sharp objects flying at him almost every 5 minutes. Dan couldn't even count how many times he almost tripped or got a spear, dagger, arrow, or knife in him; in short, it was one tough maze.

If felt like forever when he found the entrance, and by that time he was panting, sucking in air for his burning lungs. After his little fit of panting, he looked up to see the field Yeira had told him about, it was wide and vast, but there was a clear way to the other side.

"_**This looks easier than the last one!"**_ Dan thought before rushing in with sword in hand, he had done a third of his test, now he was in the second part. It seemed like this was going to be an easy one.

That is until he started to run across the field. Dan definitely learned that simplicity wasn't on this particular test, and very quickly. Because the first 5 metres ended up with a claw bursting out of the ground, attempting to slice open his leg but only narrowly missed, thanks to a jump in the step. _**"Oh crap!" **_Dan yelled in his head.

It was practically the day of the dead, or any kind of zombie movie, all over again, only with metal figures of hybrid or large beasts springing out of the ground. Dan was running as fast as humanly possible, but the beasts were just on his heels. If he kept up this pace and so did his chasers, he'd be able to cross over to the third. Then something appeared in his mind back before all of these fights and training, the **very** beginning, "_Over the centuries, hunters off all kinds have tried to hunt down various beasts with extremely powerful abilities of the spirits, they say that power could match the legends of Godhood."_ He finally understood this part of the test, "_**I can't run away from them! If I can't beat these, I might as well just stop right now!"**_ Dan wasn't about to throw away all the close calls with death, or being injured, and all this hard work to just fail or give up. He refused to actually do that, _he _was the only white hunter and it was _his_ destiny alone to face.

He had made his decision, he wasn't going to be a coward. Gripping his sword's hilt tighter than before, he span around and stopped, holding the swords blade at a 45 degree angle right in front of him. Quite a few of them slowed their pace, aware that this teenager was ready to take them on since his fighting stance looked poised and strong, this teenager had definitely learned well during training.

The rest of them ran straight at Dan, all running at top speed, before lunging right at the Hunter. Dan was quick to react, taking his sword and shifting it into its aerial form before throwing it. The sharp blade, accompanied by the momentum, sliced cleanly through all of the targets that were in the air. He held out his gloved hand, which caught the weapon without harming to him.

Suddenly, a roar caused Dan to look up and shift the sword back into its original form. Followed by that, he could see the lion metaloid in the air and only inches from his head. Adrenaline and some fear pumped into his veins as he slashed it away, cutting the neck. It seemed that one was the leader because all of them rushed in for a shot, giving Dan very limited time to focus and hit them right. One by one, they fell to the ground and turned to dust. Dan was panting and would've fell to his knees if he didn't remember that he couldn't stop now; the last part awaited him. Instead, he kept on walking, crossing the second field and approaching the castle.

-X-

Yiera watched from the largest tree in the Forest of Silver, she held some clear water in her hand, speaking the language of the Ancients, the Silver Eclipse as many called it, so she could see within the tests of both Canicos and Daniel; these words were not only called but many spirited but also many were forbidden to speak it, that included humans and Animageous'. She grinned at the progress, "_You're doing so well, now comes the final part and then I will be able to call you two Official White Partners,"_ She spoke to herself before speaking another word, _"_." _With that she seemingly evaporated, teleporting, by degeneration, to another place of her other half.

-X-

Daniel walked through the gate, hesitant since he was worried about what he'd face in there. There was no roof, it was like a stone courtyard with stone walls around it. It was mainly empty, except for Canicos lying down, but was as tense as always, waiting inside. Dan had to admit that even with Canicos there, the place looked like it was massive, and it most likely was. Sure it was safe, Dan walked in and placed the sword back in the sheath on his back, his voice bounced off the walls, "Hey Canicos, did you do a test too?"

Canicos rolled his eyes and replied, "_Yes, Dan, but we're not finished yet. The final one is for us to do together." _Dan still grinned, actually excited about passing a test. In fact, this was the first test he actually cared about quite a bit, otherwise he would be stuck in the In-training position as the Dark Hunter gained the lead. He couldn't afford to fail this test.

Yeira then made her appearance in her usual golden glow, "_Hello again, Daniel and Canicos. It is time for the final part of the test. I hope you are prepared for this because this is a very important part of the test, probably the most important part of the test."_

Dan stretched his arms a little with a grin on his face as he spoke, "Bring it on, Yeira!" Canicos nodded in agreement as he got up, standing tall. Dan grabbed his sword, prepared for any fighting. Yeira nodded then spoke another word that neither Dan nor Canicos could understand, _"_-." _She added quickly, _"Let the final part begin, good luck,"_ and then she disappeared.

That's when the world around them began to rumble, some of the bricks from the four towers fell to the ground. The ground changed itself, melding together with all things, breaking the ground to only pieces of large rubble. Canicos sprang to his feet and spread out his wings and took to the air and the earth below the structure increased in size, gliding close to the ground to allow Dan to get on him before truly taking to the skies.

"What is that!" Dan asked as the two watched from above, it was taking form already.

"_Our third test..."_ Canicos replied gravely. The animal changed into not one, but two things as the earth burst open, sending rocks to pierce the skies and the partners. Dan was able to see that Canicos had actually gotten faster than before, flying with ease as if nothing was going to pierce them at all.

It then was gravely quiet as if nothing had just happened, as if the test was over. Dan had an ominous feeling that this was too easy to be a third test, he had a good feeling that was just the introduction of it.

Dan's eyes widened when something flew down, only missed the two by an inch, it was a metal version of both Canicos and himself. As the two pairs, both fake and real, met and looked over the other, it was the fakes that flew forward in attack. The fake Beast smashed into the real one while metal Dan leaped off and tackled the real one right off his partner's back, sending them both into the air. With one quick swipe, metal went against metal as one arm was cut straight through, at first a puncture then twisted so the rest would break off. Dan 2, who Dan quickly dubbed as, gave a monstrous hiss, something that didn't sound human, before letting go.

Their partners dove down after their short round of aerial fighting, both flying lower than needed before swooping up, allowing their hunters to grab their fur on their backs and hang on.

Dan grinned as he held on for the ride, it felt like a roller coaster; one without limits. It was short lived due to the thought that he was testing out to be a full-fledged Hunter. It was a good thing too, since the winged canines glided through the air and slammed into each other, soon Canicos and his duplicate backed off to have access to another round. "_Hold on," _ Canicos spoke bluntly as he advanced, suddenly flying higher at the last second before diving down and latching his teeth into the metal neck, forcing him to the ground.

The Hunter duplicate jumped off his partner's back the moment they hit the ground while the real Dan just held on. Before Dan knew it his opponent had pushed him off Canicos' back again, this time ready to take him down. At that point, the two Canicos' were in a full fight, breathing fire and tackling on another to scratch and claw.

Dan fell on his back, wincing as the cold, broken up stone flooring made contact with his body. The other Dan was unfazed by the surrounding or the texture of the rocks, since he was not made of flesh but of metal. A deformed, doubled chuckle came out from in between a smile of his metal lips, _"So ThIs Is GuY iS sUpPoSeD tO sAvE tHe WoRlD?... GuEsS iT's SaFe To SaY 'gOoDbYe' To AlL tHaT's GooD iN lIfE..."_

Dan growled as he pushed himself into a sitting position, the stone must've been sharp enough to but some damage to his back, he winced as he did so, clutching his sword in his hand more tighter. Then he realized something, that is before he groaned in pain and laid back down on the rubble, closing his eyes, "Ow..."

The Hunter doll easily walked through the rubble, a smirk on his face as he walked to the wounded boy, preparing for a final strike. "_ThAt'S iT! ThE gReAt DaNiEl KuSo, BrAwLiNg MaStEr Is FiNiShEd? Oh WelL... I gUeSs YoU'rE a WeAkLiNG wHeN iT cOmEs To AnYtHiNg OtHeR tHaN bAkUgAn..."_

The Fake Dan held up his sword, ready to take the final blow, then allowed it to come down towards Dan's chest. Dan's eyes then snapped open with a grin before he rolled out of the way, a crack in the earth now held the sword captive in the ground. Fake Dan hissed in anger before trying to force the sword out of the wedge of rubble, but it was much too late. Dan got up swiftly before swinging back his sword and aiming for the throat. The Fake Dan transformed into smoke before his sword to fully slice through the material, soon even the cloud of smoke dissappeared with a breeze of the wind, a voice that spoke at the same time, "_GuEsS i WaS wRoNg AbOuT yOu... GoOd LuCk..."_

Canicos then went over to meet his partner, "_Dan?" _The voice rumbled in his head, causing Dan to turn around and smile. Before he could say anything, Yeira made her appearance in between them, a warm smile to match her golden glow.

"_Dan, have you learned something from this at all?" _She asked as sweetly as ever.

Dan's smile faded away before a serious facial expression made its appearance, "Yes, you can't be too cocky, 'cause a battle isn't over until there's only one side standing."

_"Correct...Daniel Kuso and Canicos of the Vulcan Flame, I have come to congratulate you on your test, you have both passed..."_ she announced before turning to Canicos,

_"Canicos, you're powers will no longer be as weak as they were, especially with Dan's will to get stronger...Please take care of him as you take part in The Hunt..."_

_ "I shall, my lady..."_ Canicos replied. The spirit nodded then looked over to Dan,

"_Daniel Kuso, 10268__th__ White Hunter, I grant you this to not only improve your armour, but to also help you stay within the path of the light, since darkness enjoys to toy with a Hunter's mind, you are the only hope of the world; so hold your head high and take hold of what has been passed down to you, you may be the one to finally end of the loop of the Hunt." _She then approached him, taking his hand were the wristband was usually placed and it changed significantly.

His clothes went red, gold, and white, engravings that were more complex appeared on his sword as the hilt widened, as well as the blade, and changed to a silvery golden colour. His torso had more of a chest plate as well as metal to protect his back, thought the red and white jacket like before was still present. His pants and leg armour looked relatively the same, except for the white armour and red pants, with metal boots that where white like pearls.

"_This may be the last time I see you... Farewell,"_ Yeira told him before the world went black.

* * *

><p>I know, I know... I'm late... SO SORRY! I HAD to do tests and catch up on homework and stuff... Gee, school can be a pain! I'll do my best to get the neck one in on time, especially because the Dark Hunter is revealed! Review if you want to find out!<p> 


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